Isobel Flemming
Isobel Flemming was the wife of Alaric Saltzman and the biological mother of Elena Gilbert. She was good friends with her ancestor Katherine Pierce, a vampire she often conspired with. When Isobel was still in high school, she met John Gilbert and became pregnant with Elena. Isobel absconded a few days after Elena's birth, and soon after, John's brother Grayson and his wife Miranda adopted Elena. Many years later, Isobel met Alaric Saltzman. At first, she did not like him and even had a restraining order against him, but later she changed her mind and they eventually got married. While Isobel was still married to Alaric, she became obsessed with paranormal research. She met a vampire, Damon Salvatore, who turned her into a vampire at her request. After being compelled by Klaus, she committed suicide by walking into the sun while her daughter Elena watched. Isobel was a member of the Petrova Family and a former relative of the Saltzman Family due to her marriage with Alaric. She was also a relative to the Gilbert Family, as she was Elena's biological mother. Early History Isobel Flemming was born on October 17, 1975. She was raised in a small town near Mystic Falls and spent much time there when she was young. As a teenager, she met John Gilbert and the two began dating. Although John ended up falling in love with Isobel, she did not reciprocate his feelings. Shortly thereafter, Isobel becomes pregnant by John. After John tells Isobel about vampires, it sparks her curiosity and she dedicates her life's work to supernatural research. Isobel was sixteen at the time and had run away from home. John brought her to his brother's office for the delivery and he delivered a baby girl. Isobel was heartbroken to give up her daughter but did so anyway, knowing that she would have a better life with Grayson and his wife, Miranda. They named her Elena. Isobel would always dream that she would one day be able to meet her daughter and tell her who she was. Isobel later attended Duke University, where she studied folklore and parapsychology. She also met Alaric Saltzman during this time and they eventually married, while he accepted she wanted no children. Isobel later earned her degree and started teaching at Duke. Isobel's devotion to her work led Vanessa to go into folklore full-time. Isobel soon became an expert researcher and started to research many aspects of supernatural lore such as vampires and werewolves. She discovered the existence of the Sun and the Moon Curse. Isobel was later killed and turned by Damon Salvatore after seeking him out and sleeping with him. The police couldn't find her body and she was assumed dead, however, Alaric witnessed Damon killing her. After that, she met Katherine Pierce, who was also her ancestor. The two then became close and genuine friends. Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series |-|Season One= |-|Season Two= Personality She views humans at the most a means to an end to her, as a source of food, entertainment (including sexual), puppets to be robbed of their free will using them as "muscle" against other humans if she wishes not to condescend to do it herself. She has no compassion, even colder than Damon and has no compunction in programming a human as a messenger boy and having him kill himself after the message is delivered. She feels absolutely no guilt in killing and feeding, voluntarily "turning off" any such evidence of conscience. It is only with her daughter and former husband that she does display any affection in any form and it is often fleeting. However, she worries about Elena's relationship with Stefan and can see how Damon is attracted to her daughter. She shows she never stopped loving her daughter despite becoming a vampire and apparently not caring for human life. Isobel is also an expert researcher who usually finds what she wants. Amongst her significant finds, she found Damon Salvatore and Katherine Pierce. She also managed to find Klaus although he had become so reclusive that many believed him to be a mere legend, this ended up being her downfall as he begun compelling her and forced her to commit suicide after she did everything he asked. Powers and Abilities Isobel possessed all the standard powers and abilities of a non-original vampire. Weaknesses Isobel had the typical weaknesses of a non-Original vampire. Relationships *John and Isobel (Exes/Parents/Former Allies) *Alaric and Isobel (Ex-Spouses/Former Allies) *Damon and Isobel (Ex-Fling/Former Allies/Enemies) *Katherine and Isobel (Former Friends/Former Allies/Distant Family) *Elena and Isobel (Mother and Daughter/Former Enemies) *John, Isobel and Elena (Were Family/Frenemies) *Isobel and Trudie (Ex-Best Friends/Isobel had her killed) Appearances Season One *''Bloodlines'' (Flashback) *''A Few Good Men'' (Flashback) *''Blood Brothers'' (Cameo) *''Isobel'' Season Two *''The House Guest'' (Cameo) *''Know Thy Enemy'' (Death) Season Five *''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' (Mentioned) *''Dead Man on Campus'' (Mentioned) Season Six *''Black Hole Sun'' (Mentioned) Season Eight *''We're Planning a June Wedding'' (Mentioned) Name *'Isobel' meaning is "pledged to God". It is a variation on the name Isabella or Elizabeth.https://nameberry.com/babyname/Isobel *'Flemming' comes from Danish, English and Old French origins. In Danish, it comes from a medieval nickname meaning "from Flanders".https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemming Trivia * Isobel was called "Izzie" by Trudie Peterson. * Kevin Williamson originally wanted Neve Campbell for the role. He had previously worked with her on Scream in 1996. Eventually, Neve Campbell was replaced by fellow Canadian actress Mia Kirshner. * Mia Kirshner participated on another vampire show - the 1990 Canadian TV Series Dracula. * Jenna states that Isobel was sixteen when she had Elena. However, given Isobel's birth year on her tombstone (January 18, 1978), Elena would have been born in 1994. Elena was 17 years old in 2009, so she was born in 1992. Maybe Isobel's tombstone information is incorrect. There is conflicting information, a different birth date (October 17, 1975), from a picture of her driving license. It's also likely the 1978 birth is a production error. * Isobel, Katherine, Rose, and Klaus are the only characters thus far to have an episode named after them. Isobel was the second of these characters to die (after Rose). ** The three women (Isobel, Katherine, Rose) all had a sexual relationship with Damon at some point, while Klaus tried to kill Damon. ** All the three women are dead * Like her ancestor Katherine, she had a daughter as a teenager that was given away. * Isobel was considered to be an expert researcher by Katherine and Alaric. * In the episode Isobel, Isobel says that Katherine found her, but in the episode By the Light of the Moon, Katherine says Isobel found her. ** It is likely that Isobel lied, and that she was the one who found Katherine. ** Katherine did help Isobel obtain a necklace that allows her to walk in the sun. * Isobel made two surprise appearances at the end of an episode, which it was followed by an episode in which she plays a major role, and then she does not appear for the remainder of that season. * Isobel does not show affection or love as a mother to Elena, but it is shown that she does love her and feels remorse for being such a disappointment. * Isobel is the first vampire shown in the series with their humanity switch off. * She was the first Vampire seen to actually die from sun exposure, though Damon, Katherine, Rose, Slater and her daughter Elena have come very close. Luka was burnt to death, though he was a witch. The second vampire seen to die from sun exposure was the male vampire that Alexander had captured. * Isobel and Jenna were both lovers of Alaric and both were destroyed by Klaus. * Isobel's ancestors Katherine and Nadia were vampires as well as her daughter, Elena. * Isobel is the first human we know of that was turned into a vampire by her own request. * She is the second of her family who has slept with Damon Salvatore (that we know of). The first one is her ancestor Katherine Pierce and the third one is her own daughter Elena Gilbert. *According to her license, Isobel is 5'4. *After Isobel was declared missing, Mr. and Mrs. Flemming had a gravestone erected for their daughter. They visited the grave every week for four years, and they left flowers for her. *Since she was a vampire, it is most likely she either found peace or was sucked into Hell when the Other Side collapsed. Gallery Episode-20-Blood-Brothers-the-vampire-diaries-tv-show-11845078-1248-704.jpg 1x21-Isobel-alaric-saltzman-12019296-1278-718.jpg 1x21-Isobel-the-vampire-diaries-12017348-1280-720.jpg 20110408184005!Isobel_Flemming.jpg 38416260.png 587458.jpg Alaric-and-isobel.jpg DTVD-121-0103 - Kopie.jpg|Isobel with her vampire face. Elena and Isobel @ grave.jpg i.jpg Imagessaltzamanisobel.jpg Isobel & Katherine, 'Nicest foreclosure in town.'.png Isobel and kat.png Isobel attacks john.jpg|Isobel bites John Gilbert Isobel fangs.jpg Isobel flemming saltzman.jpg Isobel medallion.jpg Isobel top 10.jpeg Isobel_and_kat.png|Isobel and Katherine in Know Thy Enemy Isobel-damon.jpg isobel-flemming-saltzman.jpg Isobel-Flemming.PNG Isobel.png Isobelbed.jpg|Isobel is first seen. Isobeldeath.jpg Isobelexplaining.jpg|Isobel tells Alaric about vampires. Isobelgrave.png|Her human grave Isobeljepg.jpg IsobelLicense.png|Isobel's license. Isobelpicture.jpg|A picture of Isobel. isobelsaltzmanflemming.jpg Katherine & Isobel.jpg Kte002.jpg Kte003.jpg Kte004.jpg Kte013.jpg Kte015.jpg Kte016.jpg Kte019.jpg Kte021.jpg Normal tvdisodamonisobel3.jpg normal_tvd115003.jpg Trudie_isobel.jpg|A picture of Isobel and her old friend Trudie Peterson when she was human. Vampire_isobel.jpg|Isobel working on her computer. Vampire-Diaries-Episode-1-21-Isobel-Promotional-Photos-damon-salvatore-11516777-500-355.jpg vampirediaries121_0248.jpg|Isobel is coming back to Mystic Falls. VD_Isobel_Damon.jpg|Isobel and Damon Isobel_Flemming.jpg The.Vampire.Diaries.S01E21 - T V D F A N S . I R -.mkv snapshot 10.24 -2014.05.10 03.20.16-.jpg Isobbel.jpg 683936_1302240305243_full.jpg Isobbel.jpg Screenshot 481.jpg Screenshot 760.jpg Screenshot_761.jpg Screenshot_762.jpg Screenshot_763.jpg Screenshot_776.jpg Screenshot_1551.jpg Screenshot_1554.jpg Screenshot_1555.jpg Screenshot_1556.jpg Screenshot_1557.jpg Screenshot_1562.jpg Screenshot_1560.jpg Screenshot 1573.jpg Screenshot 1569.jpg References See also Category:Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Mystic Falls Residents Category:Petrova Family Category:Supernatural Category:Vampires Category:Ghosts Category:Deceased Category:The Vampire Diaries Season One Characters Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Two Characters Category:Vampire Diaries Characters